Islamic preacher’s sermon cancelled due to First Lady’s atoll trip

A world famous Islamic preacher has had his sermon in Maldives cancelled after state-run Public Service Media (PSM) had to divert its resources to First Lady Fathimath Ibrahim’s tour of Thaa atoll.

PSM was set to provide a live broadcast of American-born preacher Yusuf Estes’s sermon on Friday night at the Islamic Centre, but cancelled after failing to prepare for the broadcast, claiming that there had been 'too many live events at the same time'.

While Yusuf Estes arrived in Maldives for the sermon on Wednesday, the Islamic ministry did not respond to questions regarding the cancellation.

At the time of the scheduled sermon, PSM and TVM showed a two-hour live broadcast of the President Abdulla Yameen's campaign rally in Thaa Veymandhoo, in which the first lady and many senior government officials were in attendance.

RaajjeMV understands that PSM’s resources are being used to follow around the First Lady in her trip to six islands in Thaa atoll. She has been liberally using state resources to travel to the atolls to campaign for President Yameen.

During her trips, she is also distributing cash enclosed in state-stamped envelopes.